History TearJerker / ChainsawMan

** Denji flashes his first, true genuine smile that manages to reach his eyes reminiscent of his more energetic persona from Part 1. Not from hanging out with Asa, not from taking care of Nayuta, not from overcoming his grief or learning to love himself, but from beating up dozens of armed attackers with a baseball bat. For all his character growth and persistent episodes of empathy, he can't seem to break away from how good it feels to commit horrific violence.

* Denji has given up being Chainsaw Man to keep Nayuta safe and tries to convince himself he’s happy not being Chainsaw Man and having a normal life with Nayuta. But when he sees somebody on the television claiming to be him, he can’t hold himself back and yells that the man on the screen taking credit for his deeds isn’t him. Nayuta comforts Denji as he cries, letting out his real emotions at no longer being able to be Chainsaw Man any more and seeing somebody else steal his identity.

* Chapter 136 is just... depressing. The ending of the previous chapter showed Denji reacting to the news that Asa had officially stolen credit for his kills as Chainsaw Man, implying that he's going to confront her about it. Nope. He keeps to his promise to live a normal life and goes to school, where he's accosted by a Chainsaw Man critic who scolds him for wearing Chainsaw Man merch, then attacked by a Chainsaw Man fan who mistakenly thought Denji was trashing the hero. After getting chewed out by his teacher, Yoshida then invites Denji to a movie theater so they can be "normal" by cutting class, all while bluntly telling Denji that he's not as important or special as he feels he is and that the world can and will move on without him. By the end of it, all Denji can do is ask if his new, unfulfilling life is what it means to be normal - the same normal life that Denji had so desperately wanted all the way back in the beginning of the series. And when a girl Yoshida had called to be Denji's date shows up, Denji, the HormoneAddledTeenager we all know and love, can only exhaustedly tell the girl how down he feels about his current life and ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness outright tells the girl to leave him alone]]''. Then the girl grabs his crotch with a wide grin on her face, essentially sexually assaulting Denji just to solidify his shitty day.

* Chapter 136 is just... depressing. The ending of the previous chapter showed Denji reacting to the news that Asa had officially stolen credit for his kills as Chainsaw Man, implying that he's going to confront her about it. Nope. He keeps to his promise to live a normal life and goes to school, where he's accosted by a Chainsaw Man critic who scolds him for wearing Chainsaw Man merch, then attacked by a Chainsaw Man fan who mistakenly thought Denji was trashing the hero. Then Yoshida invites Denji to a movie theater to meet up with a girl who he claims wants to go on a date, all the while bluntly telling Denji that he's not as important or special as he feels he is and that the world can and will move on without him. Everything clearly weighs heavily on Denji, as the HormoneAddledTeenager that we all know and love... ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness outright tells the girl to leave him alone]]''. Then the girl grabs his crotch with a wide grin on her face, essentially sexually assaulting Denji just to solidify the shitty day.

--> '''Denji''': I’m more Chainsaw Man than him!

--> '''Nayuta''': There, there.

* Denji has given up being Chainsaw Man to keep Nayuta safe and tries to convince himself he’s happy not being Chainsaw Man and having a normal life with Nayuta. But when he sees somebody on the television claiming to be him, he can’t hold himself back and yells at the man on the screen taking credit for his deeds isn’t him. Nayuta comforts Denji as he cries, seeing somebody else take his identity as Chainsaw Man.

--> '''Denji''': I’m more Chainsaw Man than him

* And this only gets worse in Chapter 124 as Asa breaks down and ''Yoru'' of all people has to tell her to keep going. Except, Asa doesn't want to. She reflects on her life and sees that sure has been trapped in a cycle of loneliness and pain. Each time she's tried to form a relationship with someone, it fails, and either her or them gets hurt. She has long since passed the DespairEventHorizon.

* We learn in Chapter 102 that while technically the Typhoon Devil did kill Asa's mom, she was ultimately killed due to pushing Asa to safety when she lingered behind to save a cat and was crushed by a flying car. When an old lady comes over to thank Asa for saving her cat, Asa bursts into tears, clearly believing that the rescue was not worth her mom's life.

* How Aki's death to the Gun Devil is confirmed: as [[TheDeadHaveNames simply another name on the list of mounting casualties to the fear of firearms incarnate]]. Even if he wasn't under Makima's control at this point, he had stood chance.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Snowball fights are one of the many things CSM leaves its readers traumatised of.'']]

--->'''Denji''': ALL OF THE WOMEN I KNOW! EVERY SINGLE ONE HAS TRIED TO KILL ME! Everyone's after my chainsaw heart! What about my heart?! DENJI'S!

--->'''Reze''': Denji, I... [[TragicVillain never got to go to school either]]....

** Kishibe's refusal to remove his blindfold after Makima kills Quanxi and her Fiends becomes this moreso after it's revealed in an extra chapter that not only were they once partners, but Kishibe had feelings for her.

** Denji, while complying with Nayuta's demands, isn't completely happy about it, as he did in fact like her just a little. His exhausted expression as he tells Nayuta that she comes first also makes clear that while he does legitimately care about her and does his best to raise her properly, at the end of the day he's still just a young boy, and has to make sacrifices he shouldn't be having to make at his age due to his responsibility to her.

** Nayuta's reasoning for wiping Asa's memories? She knows that Denji has a history of falling for women who end up trying to kill or manipulate him, and she doesn't want her big brother to be hurt again. You can't even call the poor kid unjustified for thinking that, since Yoru was trying to turn him into a weapon.

[[caption-width-right:350:'Snowball fights are one of the many things CSM leaves its readers traumatised of.']]

* While very likely not the case at all, Asa's lamentation that Denji might not like her back can be relatable to anybody insecure about their chances with their crush.
* Denji also laments about why Asa doesn’t like him in the next chapter and tries to understand why. He wonders if it’s because he smells like wet dog, showing that what the Yakuza leader said to him before he sacrificed Denji to the Zombie Devil still affects him long afterwards.